Four people displaying passion for their work on behalf of Geauga County families recently were awarded the John Murray Award by the Geauga Family First Council, a group of local agencies and community representatives.
Honored were Tom and Peggy Hannan, the first recruits for Geauga JFS volunteer tutoring program; Deb Pruce, the Help Me Grow Service coordinator; and Sara Shininger, Geauga County Jobs and Family Services community support and volunteer coordinator.
The award is named in honor of John Murray, an original member of Geauga Family First Council and the Geauga County Administrator from 1993 to 1999.

Tom and Peggy Hannan
The Hannans are in their fourth year tutoring children in the Cardinal School District.
It began after they responded to an ad calling for volunteers.
“We felt we had time and wanted to give something back and decided we wanted to give it a try,” Tom said. “We thought we could sit with children and help them with reading and math. We also just needed to be caring people, and we didn’t need a teaching degree to do that.”
Tom works with fourth- and fifth-graders at Cardinal Intermediate School while Peggy works with first- through third-graders at Jordak Elementary.
“Most of the children we work with are behind in their work for one reason or another,” Tom said. “We try to bring up their assignments to the current level. That’s been a big plus for the teachers and we feel like we accomplished (something) when the kids get caught up.”
Tom noted that some children come from families where both parents are working or other situations where it’s difficult for them to find time to work with their children.
He added that mentoring also figures in with their reading and writing lessons.
“We probably do more of that than anything,” he said. “We’re there to help the ones that need help.”
The Middlefield couple said they often don’t realize the difference they’ve made until the end of the year when receiving letters of appreciation.
“Some of the things they say just tear your heart strings out,” Tom said.
One of the more humorous letters received read “Thank you Mr. Hannan for helping me with math. I always stunk at math. Your lessons helped me.”
The couple has donated more than 700 hours of their time to the district’s children.

Pruce
Pruce was hired at the inception of the Help Me Grow Program in Geauga County more than a decade ago.
The voluntary program housed at the Metzenbaum Center in Chester Township, assists pregnant women and families with infants and toddlers from birth to 3 years old with a goal of assuring that newborns, infants and toddlers have the best possible start in life.
Pruce’s caseload is comprised of about 45 to 65 families and she helps them by accessing county resources such as Healthy Start, Medicaid and others. She also assists families transitioning from the program to preschool when children reach the age of 3.
“Deb is known for the warmth, kindness and dedication she provides to each of her Help Me Grow families,” said Family First Council Coordinator Nancy Seelbach.

Shininger
Regarding her recognition, Shininger said “It was an amazing honor to receive the award, especially coming from all of the great people I am fortunate to be able to work with side by side.”
She looks at her role as a conduit between the people in the community who need help and those who are able to provide it.
Along with coordinating summer camp, Help Me Learn and the Sponsor A Family Christmas endeavor, she also tends to individual needs not covered by specific programs.
For example, calls often come in for people needing but unable to afford wheelchair ramps, pay-to-participate athletic fees, scientific calculators, prescriptions and more.
“Just all of those day-to-day things that so many of us take for granted or don’t think about struggling to be able to meet that need,” she said. Civic groups, churches, businesses and others help with her efforts.
Last summer the Help Me Learn program which supplies low-income families with back-to-school needs served about 600 children.
“Behind the scenes, Sara is often the ‘go-to’ person people from all over Geauga call for help because she works magic in pairing churches and businesses with families in need,” Seelbach said.
Shininger has worked with Geauga JFS for more than two decades.